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Baby Geniuses 2
Baby Geniuses 2: The Squeakual Baby Geniuses 2 (also known as Baby Geniuses 2: Superbabies or simply Epic Baby Time) is a 2004 American science fiction family comedy film directed by Bob Clark and written by Gregory Poppen, from a story by Steven Paul. The sequel to the 1999 film Baby Geniuses, the film stars Jon Voight, Scott Baio, and Vanessa Angel. Following the events of the first film, four babies can communicate with each other using baby talk and have knowledge of many secrets. The baby geniuses become involved in a scheme by media mogul Bill Biscane, later revealed to be known as Kane, who kidnaps children everywhere. Helping the geniuses is a legendary super-baby named Kahuna who stops Biscane's plots and saves children from being kidnapped by Biscane and his minions. He joins up with several other babies in an attempt to stop Biscane, who intends to use a state-of-the-art satellite system to control the world's population by brainwashing them and forcing people to not be active and watch TV the rest of their lives. Like its predecessor, Superbabies received universally negative reviews and is often regarded as one of the worst films of all time. It was also a box office bomb, earning less than half its budget back. It was also the final film Bob Clark directed before his death in 2007. Plot The film starts with a group of babies in a day care center. Archie tells his friends, Finkleman, Alex, and Rosita, a story about Kahuna; according to Archie, Kahuna is a super baby with super strength and seemingly doesn't age, and he once rescued a group of children from an evil orphanage at the Berlin Wall run by a villainous overseer Biscane. Back in the present day, Archie's father Stan, who owns the daycare, allows his center to be used as a filming location by the now TV mogul Biscane, who is starting up his own TV channel. Archie and the other babies sneak into Stan's office and decide to research Biscane but are caught. Archie overhears Biscane's helpers talking about their plan, accidentally attracting their attention, but he is rescued by Kahuna. Kylie the babysitter takes them all out to the children's museum, but Biscane's helpers accidentally knock their disc into the stroller. After a pursuit, Kahuna rescues them all; he then takes them all to his base. Kahuna transforms the babies into "superbabies": Archie is Brain Boy, Alex is Bouncing Boy, Rosita is Cupid Girl, and Finkleman is Baby Courageous. Later, Archie eavesdrops on Kylie and Zach, Kahuna's helper; Zack tells her that Kahuna's father was a scientist and developed a formula which Kahuna drank, transforming him into a super baby. Kahuna's brother became jealous and annoyed at his brother, whom his friends call a freak. When the father died, Kahuna was put into an orphanage; after escaping, he set out to rescue babies and children everywhere. The next day, Zack and Kylie find the disc that fell in the stroller earlier. The disc contains a clip of the program that is to be aired on Biscane's TV channel, followed by seemingly random code; they realize that Biscane is up to no good. The group spies on Biscane as he prepares to launch his channel, but Kahuna figures out that Biscane plans to take over the world through his TV channel by hypnotizing kids to never go outside, so he attacks the broadcast satellites, which causes him to disappear. The babies decide to become their super alter egos to save Kahuna. With Stan, Archie's mom, Kylie, and Zack with them, they return to Kahuna's hideout and become Bounce Boy, Cupid Girl, Brain Boy and Courageous Boy. After having escaped his prison, Kahuna arrives, followed by Biscane and his goons. Biscane manages to get the disc he needs and begins to air the hypnotic clip on TV. Biscane then reveals the truth that he is actually Kahuna's jealous older brother, now much older than him. The babies then knock Biscane into Kahuna's machine and he becomes a baby, much to his despair. Kahuna reverses Biscane's TV clip and all the children decide to run and play outside. Kahuna tells Archie that he must go and though they'll always be friends. Kahuna leaves in his flying vehicle, waving at him and saying he'll always be a hero. Release Box Office Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 opened theatrically on August 27, 2004 in 1,276 venues, earning $3,251,856 in its opening weekend, ranking number eleven in the domestic box office. At the end of its run, on October 3, the film grossed $9,219,388 domestically and $229,256 overseas for a worldwide total of $9,448,644. Having an estimated $20 million budget, the film was a box office bomb. Critical Response The film was panned by critics and audiences alike. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 0% rating, based on 45 reviews, with an average rating of 2.2/10. The site's consensus states: "A startling lack of taste pervades Superbabies, a sequel offering further proof that bad jokes still aren't funny when coming from the mouths of babes." Metacritic reports a 9 out of 100 rating, based on 19 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Dave Kehr, in his New York Times review, said that the film was "not so much Look Who's Talking as Look Who's Walloping," while also noting that the problem with the villain's "plan is that it is already in effect and endorsed by the FCC. It is called commercials." Writing for the Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan stated, "The action sequences are phony-looking; the dialogue sounds largely improvised on the fly; the laughs are few and far between; and the acting ... is, to put it kindly, wooden."